Manuel Esquivel

Sir Manuel Amadeo Esquivel (2 May 1940 – 10 February 2022) was a Belizean politician. As leader of the United Democratic Party, he served as the second prime minister of Belize from 1984 to 1989, and then again from 1993 to 1998. His party's victory in 1984 was the first time an opposition party had won a general election in Belize. Early life Esquivel was born in Belize City when it was the capital of the British Crown Colony of British Honduras. He attended St John's College and later earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics at Loyola University New Orleans; he subsequently pursued a postgraduate certificate in physics education at Bristol University, England. Politics After the 1969 British Honduras election, Esquivel became head of the pro-business Liberal Party, which later merged with two other parties in 1973 to form the United Democratic Party (UDP). He was elected to the Belize City Council for two terms, and served as UDP chairman from 1976 to 1982. In the 1979 election, Esquivel was the UDP nominee for the Belize House of Representatives in the Freetown constituency. He was defeated by the incumbent Premier of Belize George Cadle Price, leader of the People's United Party (PUP). Esquivel was then appointed a minority member of the Belize Senate. He defeated Philip Goldson for the open UDP leadership post in January 1983, becoming the first and thus far only politician to be elected leader of a major Belizean political party as a senator. Acting opposition leader Curl Thompson stayed on as the UDP's House leader until the following election. Esquivel was elected in December 1984 to the House of Representatives from the newly formed constituency of Caribbean Shores in Belize City, becoming prime minister for the first time shortly thereafter. The UDP's victory was the first time an opposition party had won since the introduction of universal suffrage in 1954. He held the seat until the 1998 election, in which he was defeated by the PUP's Jose Coye.